The next afternoon, around noon, all of the castle staff was asked to wait in the entrance hall. The request had been made by Rodrick early that morning, after speaking briefly with a maid that stopped by the room to check on him. Just like it started, Rodrick approached the staircase right around the time he requested to find the hall packed.

At the moment, he stood alone on the staircase, figuring it would be more impactful this way. Especially since the staff wasn’t the ...